Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Republican party no longer believes in individual and corporate freedom

There are many bizarre aspects to Trump's second term. One among many is this. The Republican Party used to be known for its commitment to limited government, unbridled capitalism, and individual liberty. No longer.  With Trump as president, today's Republican Party firmly supports massive government control, federal interference in business decisions, and unheard of constraints on the freedom of Americans. The party that feared black helicopters and jack-booted thugs when a Democrat occupied the White House is fine with them, now that Trump is the occupant.  I recall the uproar when Republicans claimed that the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, would…
No Comments
Posted inCity Council City of Salem

Why the $32.5 million economic benefit from Avelo Airlines is a screwy figure

Let's get this clear right off the bat. I'm not an economist. Heck, I've never even had a college economics class. But I've got a pretty good sense of when an economic sales job appears to be B.S., or to put it more delicately, taken with a grain of salt -- meaning, skeptically.  That's the feeling I have whenever I hear boosters of the Salem airport having commercial air service speak of the economic benefit to our city from having an airline fly in and out. Salem hasn't had any success in keeping an airline for more than a few…
No Comments
Posted in2024 election Joe Biden

After reading Original Sin, I’m even more irritated at Joe Biden

It took me a while to finish reading the tell-all book by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, It's Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice To Run Again. One reason is that the book brought back painful memories of the 2024 presidential election that resulted with Donald Trump beating Kamala Harris and earning another four years in the White House where he will have another opportunity to lead our country and the world down some dangerous paths. Sending the military into Democratic-leaning cities. Weaponizing the Justice Department against his political enemies. Trashing renewable energy and efforts to combat global…
No Comments
Posted in2026 election Donald Trump National politics

If Trump tries to rip my mail-in ballot out of my hands, he’ll get a nasty paper cut

Hopefully the title of this blog post doesn't earn me a visit from the Secret Service. Guys, this isn't a threat against the president; it's a warning to Trump that if he messes with the much-beloved universal mail-in voting we have here in Oregon for every election, this will generate bad karma for him, possibly including a well-deserved paper cut. Trump's threat yesterday to issue an executive order banning mail-in voting is toothless, because the Constitution makes the states responsible for elections. Any changes to state election laws would have to be approved by Congress. Good luck getting that through…
2
Posted inDonald Trump International issues

Behold, my Ukraine war peace plan (Nobel prize, please)

President Trump wants a Nobel peace prize. Well, so do I. And I think my plan for negotiating an end to the war between Ukraine and Russia is better than Trump's. Of course, the bestowers of Nobel prizes would have to overlook the minor (in my view) problem that I have absolutely no contact with Ukraine or Russia, so I'll be conveying my plan to Zelensky and Putin via mental telepathy. If my plan is adopted in whole or in large part by the warring parties, that will prove to the Nobel prize committee that I am most deserving of…
No Comments
Posted inDonald Trump International issues

Trump humiliated by Putin at Alaska meeting about Ukraine

We have a horribly weak president. That's obvious to us here in the United States, since Trump only gives an illusion of strength when he's dealing with people and organizations subject to his presidential powers.  But today the whole world saw Trump humiliated by Russia's dictator, Vladimir Putin, because Putin knew how to use to his advantage Trump's eagerness to submit to men more powerful than he is. Even though Putin is 100% responsible for the war in Ukraine, having invaded the country for no reason other than Putin's desire to reconstitute the old Soviet Union, Trump agreed to Putin's…
1
Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Democratic response to Trump is almost as irritating as Trump himself

I'm an unhappy Democrat. I have lots of company. Currently I'm stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place. I can't stand Trump and what he's doing. I also can't stand the Democratic Party and what it's doing. My irritation with the party I've been a member of since I was old enough to vote is manifesting in various ways. Whenever I get a text message from a Democratic politician asking for money to support some quixotic liberal cause, I quickly press "delete and report spam." If the text is from Kamala Harris or Hillary Clinton, I press even more…
No Comments
Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Trump’s pick for Bureau of Labor Statistics head favors “feelings” over data

It was clear that something bad was in store for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) when Trump fired the head of the agency after the BLS reported poor job creation numbers recently. That's Trump's style: fire the messenger when they report an accurate message that the Dictator in Chief doesn't like. Today the bad thing came into view. Trump has nominated an unqualified MAGA loyalist, E.J. Antoni, to be the next commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is unheard of, since the BLS is a nonpartisan agency that is known for producing world-class high quality statistics on…
No Comments
Posted inDonald Trump National politics

All I want for Christmas is a Democratic leader with a killer political instinct

It's tough being a Democrat these days. After being depressed over Kamala Harris' disappointing loss to Trump last November, there hasn't been much to raise my spirits on the national level. (Locally and statewide in Oregon, Democrats are faring better.) Just about every Democrat on the national stage either irritates me or fails to inspire me. I get countless,  more or less, text messages and emails every day urging me to contribute to some Democratic cause. I never read them before I delete them. Sure, I realize that Democrats have no power in Washington, D.C. They don't control the White…
No Comments
Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Trump fires Bureau of Labor Statistics head because he didn’t like some statistics

In any other presidency, two things Trump did today would be so outrageous to both Democrats and Republicans, our representatives in Congress would waste little time protesting the president's actions. But with this presidency, it's just another day in the Office of Sleazy Goings-On for Trump's acolytes. Outrage #1 was Ghislaine Maxwell being moved to a minimum-security camp in Texas from a regular federal prison in Florida. The move required a waiver of guidelines that prohibit prisoners convicted of serious crimes with more than ten years remaining on their sentence from being in such a camp, which doesn't have any…
No Comments